Apparatus for the manufacture of tufted fabrics

ABSTRACT

An improved method and apparatus is provided for the manufacture of tufted fabrics in which the tufting needles and pile yarns adjacent to the needles are contacted with a mixture of air and atomized water to both cool the needles and substantially reduce or eliminate the electrostatic charge on the yarn.

United States Patent [72] Inventor James C. Rutledge Calhoun, Ga. [2 1 847,623

008 ll- 22 l/ 22 ll Ill.

9/1953 Hauser...

9/1954 Adams Primary Examiner-James R. Boler Attorney-Paul & Paul Appl. No. [22] Filed Aug. 5, 1969 [45] Patented Oct. 12,197] [73] Assignee Collins & Aikman Corporation New York, NY.

[54] APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF TUFTED FABRICS 1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figs.

ABSTRACT: An improved method and a 112/79 R, pparatus is provided I 1 12/218 for the manufacture of tufted fabrics in which the tufting nec- [51] Int. D05c 15/00 dles and pile yarns adjacent to the needles are contacted with [50] Field of 112/79 R, a mixtu e of air and atomized water to both cool the needles 79 A, 79 PF, 218, 43, 410, 266, 42, 256; and substantially reduce or eliminate the electrostatic charge on the yarn.

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INVENTOR. James C Rutledge ATTORNEYS.

APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF TUFTED FABRICS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention is concerned with a method and apparatus for the manufacture of tufted fabrics. More particularly, this invention is concerned with method and apparatus for cooling the needles employed in the tufting and for reducing the static electricity on pile yarns in the tufting zone.

2. Description of the Prior Art Multiple needle-tufting machines are widely employed to manufacture pile fabrics such as floor-covering materials. In the multiple needle-tufting machines which are in general use in the industry, the formation of the pile loops or tufts is accomplished through the interaction of the needles and looper elements which are disposed on opposite sides of a backing such as burlap. Both the needles and loopers are arranged in long rows which extend traversely across the machine and the backing is advanced through the needles and loopers. Each of the needles has an eye near its free end through which the pile yarns are threaded. All of the needles and loopers move together towards and away from the backing. As the needle moves towards and through the backing, it carries with it the pile yarn and inserts the loop of the pile yarn through the backing. The loopers move into the pile loops to hold the loops as the needles are withdrawn from the backing. The punching of the needles through the backing to provide the tufts creates a considerable amount of friction whichheats up the needles of the tufting machines. The increase in temperature of the needles as they are employed in the tufting operation causes the needles to become more flexible which increases the wear and decreases the efiectiveness of the needles. The efiect of the heat is particularly noticeable when employing relatively fine gauge needles. However, with both the heavy gauge and light gauge needles, the effect of the heat is highly undesirable. The amount of heat imparted to the needies during tufting to some extent limits the speeds at which the tufting machines can be operated.

A further problem encountered in tufting is that when the pile yarns are fed through the needles and forced through the backing, a considerable amount of static electricity is built up in the yarns. This problem is particularly acute when employing the synthetic fibers such as the polyamids and the polyesters. The static electricity which is built up has several adverse efi'ects on the pile yarn. One tendency is for adjacent ends being fed through the needles to tend to cling to each other and intertwine which causes considerable problems in the tufting operation and may even cause the ends to break. The increase in the static electricity also hampers the feed of the yarn through the needles.

Various suggestions were made for overcoming the difficulties encountered in the prior art. In Ledford, et al. US. Pat. No. 3,298,340, it was suggested to use an exposed metal guide carrying a high-voltage charge to eliminate the static charge on the yarn ends. The disadvantages of this method are clearly apparent. The use of the high voltage was highly undesirable in that the person running the tufting machine had to avoid contact with the high-voltage apparatus. Furthermore, the Ledford et al. apparatus was a relatively expensive one and required additional safety apparatuses on the tufting machine to insure that the electric would be shut off as soon as the tufting machine was stopped.

With regard to the problem of heating the needles, it should be noted that even using the type of apparatus disclosed by J. T. Short in US. Pat. No. 3,217,675, wherein the yarn was fed by forcing it through a hollow needle with air, that a considerable amount of heat was still generated. This is shown by the fact that Short required the use of a cooler to maintain the air being fed to the needle at a sufficiently low temperature so that it would not interfere with the operation of the needle. It can be seen, therefore, that the mere application of air is not sufficient to cool the needles.

It is, an object of this invention to overcome the aforemen- I tioned problems and difficulties.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus for cooling the needles of the tufting machines and to eliminate static electricity.

It is still a further object of this invention to provide a method wherein tufted pile fabrics can be made tufted at high speeds on conventional tufting machines.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The objects of this invention have been achieved by providing a method and apparatus wherein the needles and the yarn immediately adjacent to the needles are contacted with a mixture comprised of air and atomized water which mixture both cools the needles and substantially reduces or eliminates the electrostatic charge on the yarns adjacent to the needles.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional illustration of a multiple needle tufting machine having the apparatus of the present invention in the tufting zones immediately adjacent to the needles.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross-sectional illustration of the tufting zone of the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of the distributing means employed in the apparatus of FIG. I.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings, in FIG. I a typical multipleneedle-tufting machine 10 is illustrated which has incorporated in it the apparatus of the present invention 12. The tufting machine 10 is comprised of a bed I4 over which the backing 16 is drawn by the feed roll 18 and the take up roll 20. As the backing 16 is advanced over the throat 22, a series of needles 24 mounted in a vertical reciprocally moveable needle bar 26 carries pile yarns 28 into and through the backing 16 where the yarns 28 form a series of tufts 30 engaged by the looper 32. The needle bar 26 is reciprocated by means of connecting rods 34 which are secured at their upper ends to cranks 36 which are in turn connected to a crank shaft 38. A presser foot 40 is attached with a bracket 42 to the housing 44 of the tufting machine 10. The pile yarns 28 are drawn from a suitable supply (not shown) such as a creel or beam and are fed through a yarn guide 46 and through the eye of the needles 24 by means of which the yarns 28 are inserted into the backing 16.

In the preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG. I, the apparatus of this invention 12 consisting of a tubular member 48 and supply means 50 positioned adjacent to and parallel with the series of needles 24. In the preferred embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the tubular member 48 is secured to the presser foot 40 as for example by welding. The tubular member could likewise, of course, be attached to the bracket 42 or other stationary portions of the tufting machine 10. The tubular member 48 has a plurality of orifices 52 cut into its walls. The orifices 52 are spaced along the tubular member 48 and are of a shape such as to permit a substantially uniform treatment of the needles 24 with a mixture of air and atomized water. As illustrated in FIG. 3 the mixture of air and atomized water is fed into the center portion of the tubular member 48. The supply means is comprised of a water feed section 54 and an air feed section 56. The water feed section is schematically illustrated in FIG. 3 and consists of a valve 58, a pressure gauge 60 and a check valve 62. The air feed system is likewise schematically illustrated in FIG. 3 and consists of similar elements having an air valve 64, a pressure gauge 66, and a check valve 68. The

water feed section and the air feed section are joined in approximately a 45 angle to provide a venturi effect which causes the water to become atomized in the air. In order to facilitate the use of the apparatus of the present invention, an additional valve 70 is provided immediately after the zone wherein the air and water are blended. The valves 58, 64 and 70 are advantageously solenoid operated and connected to the tufting machine so that when the tufting machine is stopped, the valves automatically shut off the feed of the air, the water, and the mixture of air and water to the tubular member 48.

The relative amount of air and water that is employed is dependent upon the particular conditions which are encountered in the tufting operation. For example, if the electrostatic charge on the yarn is quite high the amount of water in the mixture is increased. Furthermore, it should be noted that the increase in the amount of the water also has a definite beneficial effect in lowering the temperature of the needles. However, an excess of water should not be employed in that this may tend to wet out the material being tufted and this will tend to hamper rather than assist the tufting operation. The ratio of the air and water in the mixture and the volume of the mixture that is employed should be such as to substantially cool the needles and reduce or eliminate the electrostatic charge on the yarn being processed without wetting out the yarn or backing of the fabrics.

In the illustration in FIG. 3, the air and water mixture is fed into a central portion of the tubular member 48. In the illustrated apparatus, in order to have a balanced distribution of the air and water mixture across the width of the tufting machine 10, the orifices gradually increase in diameter from the center to the edges of the machines thereby causing a uniform amount of air and water mixture to be dispensed. It is also possible to employ a branch-type feed wherein the air and water mixture is supplied at a plurality of positions along the tubular member 48. In this case, there is less necessity for balancing the feed by varying the orifice sizes.

The spray of air and water that is admitted from the tubular member 48 may be aimed directly at the needles and yarn, to cool the needles and eliminate the electrostatic charge. It has been found, however, that it is preferable to orient the tubular member so that the orifices 52 are aligned at approximately 45 angles to the presser foot 40. The spray of the air and water mixture is reflected off the presser foot and onto the needles and yarn. This has been found to give the optimum results when employing the present invention since it appears to result in a better distribution of the air and water mixture.

It has been found in actual practice by employing the apparatus of the present invention that considerably higher tufting speed can be achieved because the needles are cool and the static electricity is either eliminated or substantially reduced. Furthermore, the cooling of the needles increases the useful life of the needles and permits the use of finer gauge needles.

It should be appreciated that while the present invention was illustrated with a conventional type of tufting machine, that this invention is likewise useable with other types of tufting machines such as the hollow needle-tufting machines of the type disclosed by Short et al. noted above. The pile yarns, when they are fed through the hollow needles generate a considerable amount of static, and heat generated by contact with the interior of the hollow needles is even greater than that heat generated by feeding the yarn through the eye of a normal solid shaft needle. The method and apparatus of this invention both cools the needles and eliminates the static charge on the yarn.

It should also be appreciated that while the present invention has been described with reference to mixtures consisting only of air and water, it is possible to include additives in the mixture such as certain antistatic agents or lubricants. The additives can be dissolved in the water which is then atomized with the air. Use of the additive makes it possible to obtain an even reater antistaticeffect and a reduction in the friction.

lt s ould be appreciated that while it has been well known to employ high humidity in order to control static, using the present invention it is possible to obtain a limited area having an extremely high moisture content in the immediate area of the tufting without the inherent disadvantages of maintaining this extremely high humidity in the entire room wherein the tufting is conducted. The method and apparatus of this invention requires a relatively minimal amount of equipment and is relatively inexpensive to employ on the existing tufting machine.

lclaim:

1. In an apparatus for tufting pile fabrics and the like, the combination comprised of: a needle bar; means for operating said needle bar; a series of needles mounted in the needle bar for carrying pile yarns through a backing; a presser foot adjacent said needles; means for advancing the backing underneath said needles and presser foot; distributing means comprised of a tubular member secured adjacent said needles and having a plurality of orifices which are spacially related so as to provide a substantially uniform distribution of a mixture comprised of air and atomized water to said needles in an amount sufficient to cool the needles and reduce the electro static charge on the yarns immediately adjacent said needles; said orifices being positioned so as to direct the mixture downwardly toward a base portion of said presser foot at a predetermined angle selected so as to cause the mixture dispensed through said orifices to be reflected upwardly onto said needles and yarn; and supply means for providing said distributing means with said mixture of air and atomized water. 

1. In an apparatus for tufting pile fabrics and the like, the combination comprised of: a needle bar; means for operating said needle bar; a series of needles mounted in the needle bar for carrying pile yarns through a backing; a presser foot adjacent said needles; means for advancing the backing underneath said needles and presser foot; distributing means comprised of a tubular member secured adjacent said needles and having a plurality of orifices which are spacially related so as to provide a substantially uniform distribution of a mixture comprised of air and atomized water to said needles in an amount sufficient to cool the needles and reduce the electrostatic charge on the yarns immediately adjacent said needles; said orifices being positioned so as to direct the mixture downwardly toward a base portion of said presser foot at a predetermined angle selected so as to cause the mixture dispensed through said orifices to be reflected upwardly onto said needles and yarn; and supply means for providing said distributing means with said mixture of air and atomized water. 